Uncle Luigi's

Location

Rather than pay what John Luigi, 39, calls a ''crazy'' $3,500 to $5,000 a month to be wedged among Park Slope's coffee bars and craft shops, he and his brother decided to spend $1,500 monthly for digs on a much less refined side of Prospect Park.

But getting second choice may have been the brothers' ticket to success. Since they opened their shop, Uncle Luigi's, on Coney Island Avenue between Prospect Park and Caton Avenue, last spring, the desolate street has gained new life. On a block bracketed by a funeral parlor and a gas station and little else, the store draws small crowds as Rick, 45, insists that each customer try the mango ice, his favorite.

Uncle Luigi's is drawing people in the after-school and after-dinner hours, and on weekends. At peak times, it is the water cooler around which residents of Kensington and the adjacent Windsor Terrace neighborhood gather.

"Coney Island Avenue was nothing until they came here,'' said Frank Love, 55, who said he stops by almost every night for some ice cream. ''This is the only reason to come by.'' — Daniel Kruger

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